16 thoughts on “With apologies to John Mackie and Sheona”
You’re a brave man, C! Tehehehe! 😃
Just emailed it to Mrs J who comes from Paisley (she’s sitting about ten feet from me)…..maybe I’ll take the dogs for a walk.
Actually I think it’s quite funny.
Actually, Janus, I quite like bagpipes! I often listen to bagpipe music when reading or studying. Bagpipes actually helped the Allies win the First World War. It reminded the British of home, reminded those from the settler colonies of Britain and reminded the Germans of the shrieks of tortured souls escaping from hell.
Jazz: hopefully the walk went off peacefully?
Sheona: 😀
It is funny, more so if the player was in police uniform!
PS I love the bagpipes. It is about the only thing the natives have left in the UK.
In the singular, absolutely! But as massed pipes and drums, no way. I think I may have mentioned this before 🙂 You are a braver man than I, Chris.
In WWI, my father was seconded to a Highland regiment to teach telegraphy to field operators. The played the pipes all night, every night in the trenches. Evidently the rest of the Scots could sleep through the row but it upset the Germans mightily and kept them awake. This was in the worst of ’15. In the mornings before the general rush for self immolation, the Scots were issued a ration of half a pint of raw whisky on an empty stomach. No wonder 50,000 used to die before breakfast! Dad said they were so pissed they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. He always reckoned that had they been sober they would have refused point blank to die hanging on the wire, would have mutinied and shot their officers. Funny, however short they were of food and munitions, they never ran out of whisky so I guess he had a point.
Net result- He was teetotal all his life and used to go white as a sheet and faint at the sound of pipes.
I might add that pipes in Scotland are one thing when played properly but you should hear it here. All police forces in USA and Canada have an obsession with playing the things excessively badly at police funerals. Plus ghastly imitations of Highland Games. The whole thing takes on the timbre of cats being drowned in sacks and such events are to be avoided like the PLAGUE here. Nothing would possess me to attend. I always get in hot water because I will never join my spinning group in the sheep to shawl event at such happenings. Definitely time to stay home , garden and activate mines in the drive!!!
Hi Christopher
I have great news. The European Pipe Band Championships for 2015 are being held at Grant Park, Forres on 27 June so you will be able to go. I am sure that it will be one of the highlights of your forthcoming visit to Caledonia (stern and wild).
I’ll get online right away and book you a ticket. I won’t be able to go myself as I have something else on. I’ll let you know what is is as soon as I can think of anything that might sound convincing.
As I mentioned on rhe wrong post, on June 4, 2015 at 10:31 am
The pipes of course didnot originate in N Britain! They came over with the Romans and were enjoyed by the Irish and the Britsy long before they migrated north. Pity really. 😟
And on the subject of the SNP, Mr Speaker has reprimanded one of ’em. Why? For pretending he could read by flashing a newspaper in the House. P-lease! 😉
Now, now Janus. I tend to avoid thinking about the SNP. They remind me increasingly of militant peasants positively reeking of cheap plonk uttering unintelligible absurdities.
Ms Sturgeon meanwhile is demonstrating her modesty – just like Saddam! 😃
A veritable Napoleon the Pig, with a Scottish brogue!
It’s not just Scottish, Christopher, but Ayrshire, my father’s neck of the woods. It can be very broad indeed. I think my mother, she of the Glasgow accent, would call Sturgeon a snippy wee madam.
From the Dept of Be Careful What You Wish For, the SNP have been advised that the decline in oil revenues will probably sink their tax and spend strategy for N Britain. In fact when they take the chalice the first sip will finish them. 😃
Sheona: a, bit like a Scots the Juliar then. A strange woman, that Sturgeon. Most I’ve spoken to on the topic can’t quite understand her or her party. Save the Braveheart Brigade, of course. I once had an amusing encounter with a man who claimed to be the authentic voice of Scotland. He did not know that there was such a thing as a Scottish Parliament and, when pressed, admitted that his family had left Scotland after the Battle of Culloden.
Janus: oh, yes! Please, Janus! Let it be so! I can’t wait for that Ghastly Sturgeon woman and her merry band of NEDs to play Queen Gertrude!
Boadicea's Chariot 
You’re a brave man, C! Tehehehe! 😃
Just emailed it to Mrs J who comes from Paisley (she’s sitting about ten feet from me)…..maybe I’ll take the dogs for a walk.
Actually I think it’s quite funny.
Actually, Janus, I quite like bagpipes! I often listen to bagpipe music when reading or studying. Bagpipes actually helped the Allies win the First World War. It reminded the British of home, reminded those from the settler colonies of Britain and reminded the Germans of the shrieks of tortured souls escaping from hell.
Jazz: hopefully the walk went off peacefully?
Sheona: 😀
It is funny, more so if the player was in police uniform!
PS I love the bagpipes. It is about the only thing the natives have left in the UK.
In the singular, absolutely! But as massed pipes and drums, no way. I think I may have mentioned this before 🙂 You are a braver man than I, Chris.
In WWI, my father was seconded to a Highland regiment to teach telegraphy to field operators. The played the pipes all night, every night in the trenches. Evidently the rest of the Scots could sleep through the row but it upset the Germans mightily and kept them awake. This was in the worst of ’15. In the mornings before the general rush for self immolation, the Scots were issued a ration of half a pint of raw whisky on an empty stomach. No wonder 50,000 used to die before breakfast! Dad said they were so pissed they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. He always reckoned that had they been sober they would have refused point blank to die hanging on the wire, would have mutinied and shot their officers. Funny, however short they were of food and munitions, they never ran out of whisky so I guess he had a point.
Net result- He was teetotal all his life and used to go white as a sheet and faint at the sound of pipes.
I might add that pipes in Scotland are one thing when played properly but you should hear it here. All police forces in USA and Canada have an obsession with playing the things excessively badly at police funerals. Plus ghastly imitations of Highland Games. The whole thing takes on the timbre of cats being drowned in sacks and such events are to be avoided like the PLAGUE here. Nothing would possess me to attend. I always get in hot water because I will never join my spinning group in the sheep to shawl event at such happenings. Definitely time to stay home , garden and activate mines in the drive!!!
Hi Christopher
I have great news. The European Pipe Band Championships for 2015 are being held at Grant Park, Forres on 27 June so you will be able to go. I am sure that it will be one of the highlights of your forthcoming visit to Caledonia (stern and wild).
http://pipingatforres.com/
I’ll get online right away and book you a ticket. I won’t be able to go myself as I have something else on. I’ll let you know what is is as soon as I can think of anything that might sound convincing.
As I mentioned on rhe wrong post, on June 4, 2015 at 10:31 am
The pipes of course didnot originate in N Britain! They came over with the Romans and were enjoyed by the Irish and the Britsy long before they migrated north. Pity really. 😟
And on the subject of the SNP, Mr Speaker has reprimanded one of ’em. Why? For pretending he could read by flashing a newspaper in the House. P-lease! 😉
Now, now Janus. I tend to avoid thinking about the SNP. They remind me increasingly of militant peasants positively reeking of cheap plonk uttering unintelligible absurdities.
Ms Sturgeon meanwhile is demonstrating her modesty – just like Saddam! 😃
A veritable Napoleon the Pig, with a Scottish brogue!
It’s not just Scottish, Christopher, but Ayrshire, my father’s neck of the woods. It can be very broad indeed. I think my mother, she of the Glasgow accent, would call Sturgeon a snippy wee madam.
From the Dept of Be Careful What You Wish For, the SNP have been advised that the decline in oil revenues will probably sink their tax and spend strategy for N Britain. In fact when they take the chalice the first sip will finish them. 😃
Sheona: a, bit like a Scots the Juliar then. A strange woman, that Sturgeon. Most I’ve spoken to on the topic can’t quite understand her or her party. Save the Braveheart Brigade, of course. I once had an amusing encounter with a man who claimed to be the authentic voice of Scotland. He did not know that there was such a thing as a Scottish Parliament and, when pressed, admitted that his family had left Scotland after the Battle of Culloden.
Janus: oh, yes! Please, Janus! Let it be so! I can’t wait for that Ghastly Sturgeon woman and her merry band of NEDs to play Queen Gertrude!